Is Happiness Attained by Limiting Desires?

Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, a philosopher and diplomat, once wrote that there are two ways to be happy: either diminish our wants or augment our means, and the wise person will do both at the same time. While it might sound balanced and practical, I must disagree.

Reducing desires can appear noble, but it is an escape from life. When we suffer and choose not to want anything, it is not wisdom but resignation. To shrink our desires is to hide from the purpose of creation.

Desire is the engine of development. Without it, we become like small mice, avoiding the challenges of life instead of rising above them.

On the other hand, endlessly augmenting means also leads to imbalance. To chase wealth and resources without inner correction only increases egoism and distances us from becoming happy. Happiness lies not in suppressing desires nor in inflating means, but in aligning the two. Our desires must correspond to our abilities, and our abilities need to grow in proportion to desires, which are aimed at our lives’ purpose.

Franklin’s aphorism “time is money” expresses a material view of life, where we measure value in terms of profit. However, from a spiritual perspective, time is given for correction. Every moment is an opportunity to balance desire with purpose. The more we use our desires to positively connect with others and resemble nature’s quality of love, bestowal, and connection, the more our means naturally expand because they receive support from the positive force of nature.

Moreover, true wealth is not measured by accumulation, but by the degree to which we can transform how we use desires: from egoistic to altruistic. Freedom is in this balance. Happiness arises not from diminishing or escaping life, but from fully engaging with it and directing everything at the goal of creation, a state of absolute balance with nature.

Franklin was right in pointing out the dual movement that desires and means must develop together, but the axis of their balance is not material comfort. It is the purpose of life. When we align our wants with what is necessary to advance to life’s purpose, i.e., a state of absolute balance with nature, and develop our means to fulfill our motion to that goal, we find an everlasting form of happiness. Then, we no longer consider time as money, but eternity and perfection become revealed within our very lives.

Based on the video “Is Happiness Attained by Limiting Desires?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Semion Vinokur. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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